30. Lake O'Hara/Yoho National Park

Dates: January 23-25, 2016

We thought a lot about where we wanted our final trip for our challenge to be, but settled on a trip with snow, skiing,  and mountains! We had heard great things about Yoho National Park but had not explored any of it yet, so we thought this was the perfect time! On Saturday, January 23, we drove to Golden, skied at their golf course and then had a great evening with a special colleague from my Masters program. 

We woke up to this scene and knew it was going to be a stunning day!

We drove to Yoho National Park, and then on to the parking lot for Lake O'Hara. When I had looked into skiing into this area, all of the Saturday night bookings were taken for the winter, so I decided to take my discretionary day from work and go on Sunday night instead. We got to the trailhead around 11 am, and started the ski in on a lovely groomed track! It was 11km to ski in, and was slightly uphill most of the way with one big uphill section near the end. We were surrounded by blue sky and mountains!

 

lunch spot with a visitor

final steep bit to get to the huts

Elizabeth Parker hut had 12 people staying in it

and we got Wiwaxy hut all to ourselves!

after checking out the cabins, we went for a ski around Lake O'Hara, which was gorgeous!

two failed attempts to get a picture together since the snow was so deep each time I went off the track to set up a picture!

success!

Will watched his fire while the full moon and sky littered with stars shone (I have yet to get good night pictures on my camera or phone)

Woke up to this beautiful scene!

The view from the window in the cabin door! Could it get any better than this???

In the morning, we skied out after breakfast, loving that what took us 3 hours to ski in only took 1 hour to ski out! It was so fast! 

We had lots of time left in the day, and a beautiful blue sky waiting for us, so we stopped for a ski on Emerald Lake. There were some slushy spots that made us nervous enough to move onto the lakeside trail, but still a beautiful spot to ski and enjoy the sunshine!

 This was such a beautiful place that we would certainly recommend to others! We are eager to return sometime in the summer as well for some hiking, and hope that others will join us!